Sparks fly Together
by Arkhadios
Summary: Dragons live behind the Jaw Mountain Range, that is common knowledge, and any dragon problem can be solved by one of the numerous Dragon Hunters tribe. Yang Xiao Long is a young huntress, eager to prove herself, but her first solo hunt take an entirely unexpected turn when she find humanity in those beastly eyes. Can she survive sparing the creature ?
1. 1 - Hunt or be Hunted

Ideas ! So many ideas, and yet so little motivation to write them... This is the first chapter of yet another AU, and I will not give up on the previous. One day I'l work consistently, but in the meantime... I hope you'll enjoy some Dragon Hunter AU !

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Eyes scanning above the dense forest facing her, Yang breathed as evenly as her thudding heart allowed her to, excitement and apprehension clawing at her at the same time. Behind the forest, an endless wall of towering sharp peaks seemed to bite the evening sky, almost as if a gargantuan creature had died here, leaving a row of deathly abrupt teeth to separate humans from dragons.

Dragons. The very reason of her presence here.

For the millionth time, she checked her weapons. Bow, crossbow, double-edged battle axe, daggers, and her trusty hunter knife were all in functioning order and at hands reach. Last but not least, she checked Amber Celica's blade, clenching and unclenching her fists to make sure that her iron claws were ready. She was about as ready as possible, considering that she was running straight into the reptiles' den in hope of hunting one down.

She knew finding a dragon wouldn't be easy, let alone track it down, isolate it and then end its monstrous rampage of a life definitely… But she was determined, more than ever. It was time for her to prove herself, and nothing less than a dragon would be enough of a claim for her first solitary hunt. She had a legacy to carry, and she was definitely not letting it down. Else, she could as well drop her family name and exile herself, as her uncle had done so long ago…

Lavender eyes suddenly drawn toward a moving shape, she clenched her teeth in a satisfied grin, one some may have qualified as sadist. Others would simply say she had taken after her mother. The vague shape she had noticed was closing in rapidly, and it soon revealed itself to be two dragons flying close to each other. Squinting, she could see that the first one was bulkier, apparently having a hard time keeping its muscled mass off the ground with wings that were disproportionately tiny while the other was evidently shaped for flying, and acrobatic flying with that. That said, the slender coal scaled one – that Yang instantly named Black, as she had an old habit of naming preys and challenges – seemed a bit… off. It kept spiralling, barrel rolling from right to left, jerking away from Red - the bulkier one – almost as if it would be hurt staying too long by its side.

With the two fire-breathing lizard now less than a third of a mile away, she finally understood that it wasn't just a weird flying fashion. Red was clawing and gnawing at Black, trying its darnest to wound, if not kill the other. That was definitely abnormal, as dragons were reported to be either very solitary or very supporting of one another… But she wasn't going to question her luck. There were literally two dragons flying over her, so engrossed in their fight that they hadn't even noticed her. Her huntress instincts finally kicked in, and very shortly she found herself at the highest point she could find, modified crossbow armed and ready.

Letting out a shaky breath, she proceeded to calm herself down. Her hands now steadied, she pointed her weapon toward Black, Barely hesitating before choosing which would be her first prey. Something in the way that this dragon moved had piqued her interest, and perhaps that's what pushed her to try to capture it rather than kill it. Both would be equally rewarding in terms of honour, and she could still kill it if it stayed too uncooperative in her taste. Not to mention that capturing Blake would be way easier than doing so with Red, since it seemed to be the most injured of the two. She saw an opening, her breath caught in her throat, and time seemed to slow down as her grip clenched on the trigger.

The net went flying an instant later, and she already knew it would land precisely where she had wanted it to : to Black's side, trapping one of its wing and legs. Red, unphased by the surprised yelp of its foe, finally managed to land a hit. His claws viciously came across Black's snout, and it almost seemed to laugh at the other's misfortune while it sunk toward the ground, unable to fly due to the sudden stillness of its wing. The sheer force of the hit sent it flying away completely uncontrollably, and Yang made a mental note as to where it should land before focusing on Red again.

"Don't rejoice yet," Yang murmured as she reloaded her crossbow, this time with good old deathly bolts. "You're gonna join the party."

Evening her breath once more, she secured her shot rapidly and fired once again, but this time luck was not on her side… At the very last moment, turned around its heavy body, its muscular shoulder blocking the bolt initial path toward its neck. Cursing under her breath, she placed the crossbow on her back as swiftly as possible, then picking up her battle axe. There was no way her bolt could kill such muscular dragon, especially if its scale were as thick as their sanguine red colour seemed to indicate. And there was no way that it'd let her alone, now that she had caught its attention.

Peeling her eyes off of it for a split second, merely the time needed to asses her surroundings, she almost missed the contraction of its wing, signalling an imminent descent. There was no guessing where it would descent : right on her, to either incinerate her with its terrible breath, or scoop her up into its monstrous claws to devour her. Or maybe if it was merciful, it would toss her into the night sky, and let her body wreck on the cold, rocky ground. Fighting her instincts, she stood still, waiting for the very last minute to dodge. If she averted herself from its trajectory too early, it could correct its path and kill her. If she did it too late, well there was no wonder what would happen.

Plunging to the side, she cringed at the shrieking sound of its claws against the rock on which she had stood not a moment ago before getting back to her feet hurriedly. Red then landed, its powerful mass shaking the ground upon impact. Inadvertently, she made eye contact with the beast. She saw its rage and its fury, glinting in Olympic blue like a raging sea, she saw amusement, but worst of all, she saw a glimpse of intelligence. Understanding. That thing was not just a blood thirsty beast : it was a sentient creature that took pleasure in other's suffering.

And just like that, she realised how foolish she had been, thinking that she could strike down two dragons by herself. Hands clammy, she gulps hard, trying to get rid of the sudden feeling of absolute dread that dawns over her, to no avail. Gone are her bravery and pretention, and the only thing on her mind is survival. The beast start to circle around her, and she suddenly notice how easier it seems for it to walk and not fly… as if she needed any other odd against her. Maintaining the distance and doing her best to not look into those devilish eyes, something caught her attention. To her right, there was an opening in the cliff, a narrow crack that would hopefully lead to some kind of underground gallery. Her eyes came back to her opponent, only to see it squint its eyes at her, having apparently caught on her little stratagem. Giving up all kinds of confidence, she bolted toward the crack, knowing very well that if she did not reach it first, she would be dead meat by the end of the day.

The ground shook slightly under her feet, signalling her that the thing had started running. Much to her dismay, it seemed to be closing the space between them at an alarming rate, its bull-like musculature slowly but certainly giving it the upper hand. Closing her eyes for a fleeting second, Yang briefly wished she'd get out of this alive, before barrelling into the opening.

Surprisingly, she made it to the cave. Luckily, it seemed to be more than just an air pocket in the cliff, as the walls disappeared into shadows. Mercifully, the dragon was way too large to enter the cave, and it was reduced to slipping one of its paws in, blindly clawing around to try and catch her. Making sure she was out of reach, she took a second to catch her breath, barely believing that she was still alive. That had been a close call. Way too close in her taste.

The paw retreated suddenly, leaving all her senses in high alert. Did it gave up? So soon? That was unlikely. Then again, this thing had been acting weird from the very start, attacking another dragon… when its mouth slipped through the entry, she almost jumped.

It inhaled loudly, and in an instant she knew what was about to happen : it would incinerate the entire cave, and her with it. Her eyes widened before turning a crimson red that would probably match the beast's scales, and she clenched her fists, readying her claws. She would have liked her axe better, but the weapon laid abandoned in the grass, as she had let go of it in favour of sprinting toward the cave.

"Oh no you don't!" she roared, propelling herself toward Red's face, all claws out.

She punched it right on the jaw, tearing through the scales surprisingly easily and startling the beast. In its surprise, it tried to retreat hastily and scraped its neck on the sides of the entrance, yelping at the unexpected pain. It groaned a bit out of her sight, before a heavy, leathery sound tore through the obnoxious silence. Biting her lower lip, she slowly risked her head outside, to see that it had abandoned the pursuit. Visibly, it did not expect such opposition, and deemed her too dangerous for what killing her would benefit. Sighing heavily, she hesitantly stepped outside and made her way as discreetly as possible toward her axe. Picking it up, she replaced it amongst her other weapons and started walking toward what she deemed to be Black crash site. Tonight she wouldn't sleep… She needed to put as much distance as possible between her and the previous battlefield. She wasn't sure she could have slept anyway, the devious glint of these blue eyes still haunting her.

A long, restless night later, she was finally approaching her estimated target while the sun started to lazily trail its morning rays on the peaceful trees. She was quite tired, both from the extended period of awakening and by the surprising amount of effort she had to put to cover the distance. Walking in a forest was not as easy as it could seem, especially in dense forests… and this one in particular added a rugged terrain to get some more fun. Twice already she had fell in hopefully not-so-deep crevices, and twice she had to claw her way out of them, tiring a little more and adding small scratches and bruises to the pretty long list of those she already sported. By now she was almost pushing further just for the sake of it, having lost almost all hope of finding her prey…

Pushing back a branch that obstructed her view and making one more tired step, she was stopped mid-yawn by her own surprised yelp as her foot met nothing but thin air. Stumbling downward in a completely uncontrolled manner, she ironically had the time to inwardly whine at yet another crevice, before a merciful bush slowed down her fall. Slightly. Inflicting various cuts and scratches to her already bruised arms.

Grunting, she pushed herself back to her feet only to notice that this wasn't another small pit like she had – begrudgingly – become accustomed to, no this was a much larger place, surrounded by cliffs. And looking back on where she came from, she was pretty damn lucky to have fallen on that bush, else she would have suffered a lot more than a few cuts and scratches. While she tiredly wondered how the heck she was going to get out of there, a heavy breathing resounded, freezing her on spot. Was that her end? Stuck down a pit, killed by a dragon because she was too stupid to be careful about where she'd set her feet, and too stubborn to admit she needed sleep?

Slowly turning around, she breathed in relief when she noticed the ropes tying the jet-black beast to the ground. Having a chance to get a closer look at such majestic creature, she carefully made a few more steps toward it while still keeping a safe distance from its deathly claws.

It was one of those very lizard-like dragons, with a slender but muscular body and thick scales, while its wings were slowly merging from long, flat scales to a more leather-like skin and whiting slightly at the tips. Its right wing was covering a great deal of its body, but some purple patterns could still be seen slithering around its legs, as if deep purple flame were permanently etched onto its scales. Its barbed tail was whipping around, long and thin white bony spikes uselessly scraping against the ground in a visible display of annoyance. Or maybe it was despair?

Slowly walking around the sprawled form of the beast on the ground, she made her way towards the head, curious to see which kind of facies such monster could bear. That was perhaps a terrible mistake. When she finally got to a place from where she could see its head, the beast painfully strained its neck to point its snout at her. And she was met with the most heart-wrenching, painfully resigned look she had ever seen. This beast was sentient, just as Red was, there was human-like intelligence glimpsing in those eyes.

And it knew it was going to die. She would take its life, for the sake of a legacy she had never wished to carry. But could she really mindlessly slaughter a beast – no. It was too intelligent to be called a beast. Could she really slaughter a creature that looked back at her with such human expression?

Her pondering was interrupted by a sudden realisation : the creature wasn't looking directly at her. And it slowly dawned on her, the blood dripping from its head, the pained wince of its mouth, the unnatural veil on its pupil, the scars running over its eyes, almost hidden by the coal tone of its skin… It couldn't see anymore. And that simple realisation lifted a great weight from her shoulder, as she made a rapid, perhaps foolish description.

"Dragon!" she said, voice loud and assured. "In other circumstances, I would have ended your life this instant. I would have taken your heart as a trophy, and your carved skull would have become an infinite testimony of my victory." Suddenly dropping the fierce bragging tone that had been pushed on her, she pursued with a much softer voice, one that felt like herself. "But I have seen something else in your eyes. I want to believe that you're not a stupid mindless beast as I was told. I want to believe we can come to an understanding. For that, Dragon, I will set you free of your chains. But don't you get any funny ideas, or I swear on my axe that I'll behead you before you got the chance to lay a claw on me. Is that clear?"

At this point she was pretty close to deeming herself entirely mad. She had asked a question to what was essentially a giant, winged, fire-breathing lizard. And she was expecting an answer now?

She almost jumped when the beast nodded ever so slightly. Did it understand her? It looked a lot less desperate now, and a lot more… suspicious. Giving one last look to the top of the cliffs, Yang made a step toward the dragon. Now in attack range, she stood with all her senses on high alert, expecting death to rain on her at any minute. But when nothing happened, she had to convince herself that she had not dreamed the nod, that the creature had effectively agreed – willingly or not – to let her get dangerously close to its core.

Breathing deeply, she made her way towards her goal, nerves unravelling at how foolish her actions were, until finally, she was in touching range.

"I will cut the ropes now, don't move or my blades might cut you. Also I'll probably have to touch you in order to free you from the trap, please don't freak out."

When that last sentence left her lips, she realised that she was most likely the one who would freak out from the contact, and almost laughed at the stupidity of the situation. Instead, and against all of her instincts and training, she slowly proceeded to slice the ropes, successfully avoiding all contacts with the beast. Until the last link came, and she had to separate it from the beast's chests.

And for a fleeting second out of time, she grazed the warm scales with her fingertips, electricity running through them each time the powerful heart beneath it beat, an otherworldly contact that would forever mark her with the memory of how warm, how soothing this feeling was. Then, breath caught in her throat, she cut the last rope and the moment was gone. The beast extended its wings, and in one powerful bat, it propelled in the sky.

Silhouette etching black against the morning sun, it held for a graceful second before reality claimed its rights, and the gigantic shape came crashing down on the ground, away from where it had stood not so long ago.

Shaking lightly, Yang turned away. Apparently they were both stuck inside this stupid pit for an undetermined period of time. Heart still hammering in her chest, she decided to make the best of the situation, and a beginning of a smile crept its way on her lips.


	2. 2 - The Dragon's Den

Hewwo everyone, and first, thanks for reading my nonsense ^^ I hope you'll enjoy it

Second, as the two reviewers have guessed, there are strong HTTYD (How to train your Dragon) vibes in this story, mmostly on the bee side. With this chapter though it should be very different, as it will cover Weiss POV. Anyway, onward with the story !

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Something was wrong.

Pacing back and forth on one of the numerous balconies of the mansion she called home, Weiss was restless. And for once, not even the crimson peacefulness of her home sky could calm her down… That alone was worrying even more. In the past, no matter what was troubling her, she just had to gaze up to the infinite ruby of the clouds lazily trailing in a sky reddened by the exhalations of the mounts around and she would be calmed. She would find what was troubling her, breathe, and calm down.

Then again, rarely ever before had she had to face these times alone. Sighing, she stopped her pacing altogether and leant against the cold stone railing, eyes trailing on the hectic landscape that she called home. She'd never voice it, but she had to admit she missed Blake… Her irritating way of giving advice, by simply dropping some nebulous quote from one of her books and expecting her to make sense out of what was essentially verbiage was not something she'd expected to miss, and yet here she was. Staring toward the skyline and wishing Blake could say one of those quotes, eventually helping her go forward.

But that was her entire problem : Blake wasn't here. A sad but fond smile tugged at the corner of her lips when she remembered their first meeting, how bratty she had been to her assigned bodyguard. And yet Blake had suffered through it all, and picked up the pieces countless times when she herself was too lost to do it. Behind her, a door opened and closed, and she clenched her jaw painfully before composing herself. Whoever was there shall not see her so emotional.

"There you are, my little gem!" Despite the kind words, the voice sounded more calculating than anything, and Weiss stifled an annoyed sigh at her father's terrible job of pretending they were a real family.

"Indeed, I am here. As I told you I would," she politely answered, not resisting to the temptation of adding a bit of covered sass.

"Now, now, I've made some arrangements regarding the loss of your bodyguard, everything should be taken care of first thing tomorrow," he ignored, instead crossing his arms behind is back as if to hide from the tension that had risen in the room.

"You… did?"

For once, Weiss was genuinely surprised. Did her father suddenly grow a soul? For him to so suddenly agree with her was brand new. And she had to be honest, very suspicious. A start of a frown forming on her face, she was about to say something when she was interrupted by her poor excuse of a father.

"Well of course! I wouldn't want my precious gem to be left without a bodyguard after all! Your new bodyguard should arrive by tomorrow. This one is a very talented fighter and mind you, a pure blood, so I'm sure you will get along perfectly."

Of course. That was to be expected. But still, something in the smugness of his voice was driving her nuts. And perhaps that's what made her snap, and suddenly growl at him in the least dignified way possible, bifid tongue slithering on her lips as anger made her loose part of her focus. That, or the absolute urge she felt to search for her only friend, RIGHT NOW.

"The matter isn't about having a bodyguard or not, Father." She had slipped in that last word as much resentment as she could, pressing it so it would make no doubt how ironic it was supposed to sound. "The matter is that a friend of mine is missing. And since YOU," poking him hard in the chest, she straightened her posture to appear as tall and intimidating as possible, she pursued, "don't seem to want to do anything about it, I will have to take matters in my own hands.

Her outburst, as sudden and blunt as it was, was short lived when she finally made eye contact with the man towering her. He was standing firmly, menacingly, his light blue eyes piercing through her determination and strength easily, stripping her from anything else she might have said. In an instant, she was nothing more than a child shivering under the deceived glare of an unyielding parent, a prey staring back in fear at a predator that seemed just disappointed, by both her attitude and her easy surrender. But what else could she do? Slightly ducking her head, she braced herself for what was to come next, to no avail. She was just so terrified of this man, of what he could do to her… and what he had done…

She despised him. Hated him to the core. Disagreed with each and every single one of his opinions. And yet, he was her father… and she just wished that for once, she could see pride in those eyes instead of perpetual disappointment, and calculating greed. She just wished that for once, she could be enough to satisfy him, enough to make her own choices and enough for her requests and advice to be taken seriously. She wished he could be a father, and not this overlooking, terrifying shadow and authority figure.

"You shall take no matter into these pathetic hands of yours," he simply stated, his anger only betrayed by the vertical slit of his pupils. "I will not allow you to spoil our resources to search for such low-bred, bastard of a bodyguard you have. She most likely got herself killed stupidly because she spoke to the wrong person. Do not forget your place, young lady."

He turned his back, starting to walk away with his usual determined pace, when something escaped her.

"Why did you call her a bastard?"

It was a simple, innocent enough question. Yet, Weiss needed the answer, and yet, it made him spun on his heels violently, a scowl now deeply set.

"What did you just say?" the question hovered, menacing.

"I asked why you called her a bastard."

She was feeling numb, and for now the only thing that mattered was his answer. He suddenly erupted in laughter, startling her and batting the air with one hand as if chasing an annoying fly.

"Weiss, you should know by now that I have little respect for such low-breds. She can't even maintain a fully human form! Of course she's a bastard of some sorts."

"You never called her a bastard before." Weiss blankly pressed, heart beating at her own thoughts of what this could imply. "A low breed, an animal yes but never a bastard…."she let her voice trail out, not wanting to word her suspicions.

"Do not forget your place." Jacques stated menacingly, all trace of his faked laughter now vanished.

"You know." She let out in a whisper, barely believing that he could even ear it.

Scowling haughtily, he turned away without adding anything, storming off to the inside of the manor. Most likely to lash out his anger at anyone who would have the misfortune to be on his path. Weiss just gasped. His silence was as good as an admission… And now she allowed herself to listen to her worries.

With what he had said… his eagerness to find another bodyguard… Blake was in danger. She had to do something, anything to help her! Now was her chance to prove herself that she was nothing like her father, nothing like the cold heiress everyone but Blake thought she was. Her eyes darted back and forth, between the door and the skyline, heart hammering and her still bifid tongue slithered on her lips repeatedly as her worry and hesitation increased.

She closed her eyes, breathing deeply in an attempt to calm herself… and miraculously it worked. When her eyes opened again se was calm, collected… and she had made her decision. She gave one last look to her home, to the comfort she was used to, before stepping on the railing.

"I make my own choices," she muttered before stepping toward the void.

She fell like a brick, a smile creeping on her face as she let herself go wild for the first time in a very long while. Bone shifting, articulations twisting and muscles stretching way beyond what a normal person could be able to support, she rapidly shifted into her dragon form and silently extended her pristine wings, thriving by the soft caress of wind on her brand new feathers. Her fall stopped as suddenly as it had started, her reptilian body gliding quietly over the tortured landscape.

She started turning toward the innermost lands, when something irresistibly pulled her toward the mountains that cut the frontier between dragons and humans. She hesitated for a while, knowing very well that if she did decide to follow her instincts she would jump into the belly of the beast unprepared and unprotected… But in the end, she turned toward the jagged stones. If anything, it would give her ore time... Her father would never search for her in the human kingdoms. Especially not after everything he had told her about those dragon Hunters.

Now that she thought about it, the only thing she knew about humans was what her father had told her. Grunting in displeasure at her own foolishness, she dodged another dragon that stared at her with wide eyes. Of course! How stupid she had been? She was clearly visible, and going the opposite way of what her father expected would not help if everyone saw her! Closing her eyes half a second, she rapidly decided of her next actions.

Swiftly dodging stone structures, using her flying abilities to the maximum, she made it seem as if she had come here only to train her wings, as she had been known to do numerous times in the past, making sure to be extra elegant as she knew there were bystanders. Ending her little show by spinning through a circular hole in a pillar, she took a split second to elegantly salute the public, before going back from where she had come as determined as before.

Of course she had no plan to get back to the manor, but she needed to give the impression that she had just gone out to exercise and empty her head. Once no one was in sight, she flew as close to the ground as possible, and breathed in and out slowly. She had to remain perfectly calm, mind blank, until… There! She had it. She couldn't help but feel a smile when the tip of her wings became translucent, and then crystal clear. Once again, following Blake's advice was paying off… this was an ability she had discovered not so long ago, and her bodyguard – no, her best friend – had insisted she kept it a secret from everyone but them. That way she could hide from anyone if needed, giving incredible advantage in combat.

Now almost invisible, she incurved her path until she found herself facing the border once again. Now all she needed to do was keep focus and avoid knocking anything or anyone. A piece of cake, for someone with her training. What would be a lot more trouble was the distance… She hadn't been trained for long flights, and as the more crowded parts of the kingdom were slowly left behind she started to feel her wings aching, her will diminishing and worse, her focus loosening. Every now and then, she was flickering to translucent as her mind wandered to Blake or her father, and she had to shake her head to avoid blowing her cover entirely. She knew she would have to stop eventually, but she stubbornly pushed farther and farther. She was still too close to home, still unsafe…

Until suddenly, the peak of the Great Jaw was behind her.

Completely thrown off-guard by her finally reached objective, she saw her wings getting back to their usual pristine white in an instant, making her as visible as blood in the snow… or rather snow in the blood, as her white silhouette was harshly contrasting against the reddened sky of her home. But that wasn't what startled her again, letting her heart surrender to panic.

No, what was truly worrying was that with her objective now attained, her wings refused to move anymore. Exhaustion hit her all at once, and she started falling uncontrollably, unable to do anything but stupidly stare at her imminent death as her numb corpse was crashing toward the ground. Luckily, she was crashing toward a flat stone quarry, abandoned for centuries from the look of it. She tried to brace herself for the impact, in vain: her sheer velocity knocked her unconscious the moment she hit the ground.

Flashes. Red. Black. Yellow. Purple. Green. Silver? She gasped awake, pain jolting through her ribcage in a painful remainder of what had brought her here. A veil of agony blurring her vision, she didn't notice immediately that she wasn't in the stone quarry anymore… but when she did, she freaked out. There was no way she could have slid into that cave when she had crashed from the other side of the mounts. Not when the mouth of the cavern opened on the human kingdoms. Well to be precise, it gave way to a clifftop, ghostly hovering numerous wooden structure… and… was that… trees?

If she hadn't been out of breath from doubling over in pain, the view alone would have knocked the wind out of her lungs. Forest. As in real trees, alive and growing! She had only seen them in paintings. It was… so vivid! There were so many different kinds of them, with different colours and shapes… A stray tear shed from her left eye, the right having lost its ability to cry a long while ago… and she couldn't tell if it was from the pain or the beauty of the sight. But if anyone asked, of course she would answer that it was pain induced. Not that anyone would notice anyway…

"Oh hey! You're awoken!"

The young, cheerful voice startled her, and the sudden movement as she tried to turn toward the source of the noise sent bolts of pain jolting through her whole body, sending her crashing back down on the ground in an instant. No, not on the ground… there was a sort of mattress under her?

"Please don't move! I was super freaked out when I found you, I thought you were dead…"

A pair of silver eyes framed by short, black and red-tipped hair kind of jumped into her field of view, startling her again. Her first reflex was to flee, as far away as possible, go home… she was in human territory. That was most definitely a human. And if they had seen her in her dragon form… who knew what kind of torture she had to expect?

"Oh! I'm sorry I probably scared you off!" the voice, and subsequently the person to whom it belonged took a step back, thus allowing her to see that it was a young girl, about her age or a year or two younger. That is, if her knowledge of humans wasn't completely made up by her peers… Aside from that, she wore a black dyed leather coat adorned with silver shoulder pieces and a ruby red cape. "I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose! I found you lying in the middle of the quarry just over there – she pointed to the outside excitedly – you were unconscious so I kinda thought you were dead, but then you breathed! So I got you here, I'm guessing you tried to climb the Jagged Tooth and fell? I mean it would make sense, since you kinda broke a rib or two, and were unconscious in the middle of nowhere…"

She was completely thrown off-guard by the excited rambling of the young girl… Ruby? Her eyes darted awkwardly from left to right, not knowing how to react nor if should be reassured or even more worried by her energized savior.

"Aaaaand I'm scaring you off again so I'll juststopandshutup." Ruby suddenly spurted, fidgeting with an already worn out tip of her cape.

Taking long and slow breathes carefully, Weiss slightly raised her hand to try and signify that she would try to speak as soon as she would have managed to get some oxygen in her lungs. The manoeuvre seemed efficient as Ruby stopped fidgeting to watch her intently, albeit with a glimpse of worry in her silver eyes.

"I'm… Weiss Schnee," she finally managed to let out, her dragon blood already actively healing her internal wounds. "Thanks, for… saving me."

"No problem Weiss! Or do you prefer Schnee? Awh man I never know…" she muttered, digging the tip of her boot in the ground.

"Weiss is fine," the heiress replied, gradually finding back her breath and now able to speak at a normal volume.

"Awesome! Also uh…. Please don't freak out again… but when I found you, your clothes were completely torn, probably by the fall, so you'll have to wear something else…" her voice went quieter and quieter as she revealed that, embarrassment obvious as pink dusted her cheeks lightly.

"I don't have spare clothing…"

That would be a problem. She usually just ran back home in her dragon form whenever the slightest damage was done to her outfit, but that was completely out of the question now… Clenching her fists around the covers, she had a spare thought to thank her rescuer that had been kind and thoughtful enough to cover her with what seemed to be the only blanket around.

"Well uh, we seem to be about the same size, so if you want I could lend you mine? If you don't want to it's perfectly fine, you'll just have to keep the blanket around you!"

"That's very nice of you to offer."

Rummaging through what seemed to be a very stuffed, distended backpack, Ruby proceeded to retrieve an outfit very similar to the one she currently wore, except for the cape and boots.

"I don't have spare shoes, but yours seemed to survive the fall, so you should be good! Though you might want to think twice before trying to climb a mountain in heels next time," she said enthusiastically, placing the neatly folded black trousers, greyish linen shirt and a black overcoat on a nearby stone protrusion.

Nodding appreciatively, Weiss stood up and proceeded to strip of the poor remainders of her clothes, assessing the damage in the process. She let her fingertips ghost softly over the purpuric marks of her wounds stitching themselves up under her skin, slightly wincing when it trailed over scratched, raw skin in numerous places where the crash hit directly. Her shirt was halfway removed when she heard a sudden yelp from Ruby, soon followed by a confused, and very fat rambling.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry I should have turned I'm turned now still sorry please don't hate me I'm really sorry!"

Casting a side glance at her, Weiss raised her eyebrows. Was it inappropriate amongst humans? She had just assumed that… with her previous outfit already torn beyond what most would have considered decent… Suddenly blushing she hasted into the borrowed outfit, pink dusting her cheeks as she thought again and again how improper she had been.

"I'm… decent now. And I'm sorry for my previous actions, it was very inconsiderate of me. Please excuse my inappropriate conduct…" fidgeting with her hair as an excuse to look away, she tried to find some way to get back to her usual ponytail without a proper hair tie.

"Uh… no need to go all fancy talkin' on me you know, I'm just a common Dragon Tracker" Ruby said, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.

"Dragon… what?" Weiss asked, all movement suddenly frozen in place.

"Oh yeah sorry, I always forget that people don't know what that mean. Just consider me as a kind of Dragon Hunter, but more specialized!" she smiled, oblivious to Weiss' panic attack.

* * *

Many thanks to Blessing of Babylon, who pointed out my mistakes.


End file.
